CPC technology class · B61

B61B - Railway Systems

Railway systems; equipment therefor not otherwise provided for. 961 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

961
US patents granted: #3/9
in B61: 11.8%
B61 class share: +60%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Railway Systems ranks #466 of 670 CPC technology areas - 961 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 60% over five years.

#466
of 670 CPC technology areas: 961
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Murata Machinery
leading assignee (45): +60%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B61B's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B61B recorded 525 grants versus 328 in 2015–2019 (+60% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2024 at 132 grants and bottomed in 2016 at 50 (+164% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Murata Machinery, Ltd. holds 4.7% of the class ; the top three share 12.7%.

Leaderboard read

B61B concentration, lead at 4.7%

Murata Machinery, Ltd. leads this historical grant record at 4.7% of B61B - foreign corporation assignees hold 66% of class grants (345 of 522). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 4.7%
Top three share: 12.7%
Lead over #2: 1

Where B61B sits inside B61

Among 9 subclasses in B61 (Railways), B61B ranks #3 and holds 11.8% of the parent class's 8,123 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

B61L 2,671 B61D 1,451 B61C 870 B61F 797 B61K 506 B61H 502 B61G 314 B61J 51

Rising assignees active in B61B

Company-wide grant multiples (2022–2024 vs 2019–2021) among assignees with ≥5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide; class patent counts are subclass-specific.

#1 Berkshire Grey Operating Company, Inc. 124x 0 → 124 company-wide · 11 in B61B
#2 Clone667, LLC 5.00x 1 → 5 company-wide · 6 in B61B
#3 Southwest Jiaotong University 4.27x 11 → 47 company-wide · 8 in B61B
#4 AutoStore Technology AS 4.08x 25 → 102 company-wide · 33 in B61B
#5 GET Fabric Ltd 4.00x 2 → 8 company-wide · 5 in B61B

B61B grants by year, peak 2024 (132)

US utility-patent grants per year in B61B, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 60% versus 2015–2019.

Murata Machinery

45
Daifuku

44
Autostore Technology…

33
Hyperloop

26
Innova Patent

25
Poma

19
Leitner S P A

19
Berkshire Grey…

11
Crrc Qingdao Sifang

11
Opex

10
Ropfin B V

10
Bombardier Transportat…

9

What this shows Murata Machinery is the most active filer in B61B, holding 45 of the 961 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

View data table

Top patent holders in CPC subclass B61B
Rank	Company	Patents in B61B
#1	Murata Machinery, Ltd.	45
#2	Daifuku Co., Ltd.	44
#3	AutoStore Technology AS	33
#4	Hyperloop Technologies, Inc.	26
#5	Innova Patent GMBH	25
#6	POMA	19
#7	Leitner S.P.A.	19
#8	Berkshire Grey Operating Company, Inc.	11
#9	Crrc Qingdao Sifang Co., Ltd.	11
#10	Opex Corporation	10
#11	Ropfin B.V.	10
#12	Bombardier Transportation GmbH	9
#13	Oren Technologies, LLC	9
#14	SST Systems, Inc	9
#15	Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Inc.	9
#16	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engineering, Ltd.	8
#17	Southwest Jiaotong University	8
#18	Faiveley Transport Tours	8
#19	Korea Railroad Research Institute	7
#20	EagleRail Container Logistics LLC	7

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B61B assignee, placed by how many patents it holds in this class (horizontal) against its company-wide average claims per patent (vertical) - a read on whether the class is led by broad-but-shallow filers or focused deep-claim players.

Top 14 B61B assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B61B. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near B61B's 961-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for B61B (#466 of 670 by volume ; lead share 4.7%) - not the B61 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

E21D 962 A23F 971 E01H 971 C01D 976

Nearest by lead-assignee share

F17D 4.7% B44C 4.7% B66F 4.7% B41M 4.7%

Questions about B61B

Which company holds the most patents in B61B?

Murata Machinery, Ltd. leads B61B with 45 patents (4.7% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 66% of class grants.

Which B61B assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B61B, Berkshire Grey Operating Company, Inc. shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (124x: 0 grants in 2019–2021 → 124 in 2022–2024) while holding 11 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does B61B compare inside parent class B61?

Inside B61 (Railways), B61B ranks #3 of 9 subclasses by grant volume and holds 11.8% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B61L (2,671 grants).

What to do with this data

B61B in context - here's where to go next.

Murata Machinery, Ltd. leads B61B with 45 grants in this class. See full portfolio
B61B ranks #466 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class B61, the largest sibling subclass is B61L with 2,671 grants. Explore B61L

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through 2026-05-15; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Methodology - B61B figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (961 grants in the tracked window).

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.